The Edict Of Hamurabi And The Code Of The Salian Franks

The secular laws of Babylon were laid down by Hammurabi in “The Code of Hammurabi”, and in the book of Exodus. These laws provided stability and order in those respective societies. As society depended upon them, it is natural to assume that the laws relied upon society as well and reflect the values held by each society, not only in the laws themselves, but also in how they are written, whom they pertain to and how they are executed. While at first glance the law codes appear similar, there are a number of differences that provide key insight to what was held dear in each society. How do differences in these two law codes attest to differences in the two societies which pronounced them, and likewise, what can be learned from their

Furthermore, laws that regulated the Mesopotamian society of Hammurabi were necessary for society to flourish and grow without bumps or hiccups. These laws attempted to regulate morality in an effort to maintain social order. Such laws regulating adultery, incest, and marriage illustrate

Throughout the world, laws brought a sense of purpose and order into empires through many centuries. Two groups of laws that brought major purpose to empires were Justinian’s Code and Hammurabi’s Code. Although they may differ in different aspects of life they are connected in political, economic, and social forms in the ancient world.

Reading the 282 laws in the Code of Hammurabi shows how pertinent many of the values of what is now characterized as ancient civilizations are today. In fact, many of the current laws are similar to Hammurabi’s codes. As John P. McKay states in Understanding Western Society, A Brief History, “Hammurabi’s code inflicted harsh penalties” (16), however, Hammurabi was not without mercy, as some laws allows for the sentences to be commuted. Edwin M. Good’s article, “Capital Punishment and Its Alternatives in Ancient near Eastern Law,” reviews Hammurabi’s codes as well as others of the time. He questions “whether any of these codes actually represents legislation which was intended to be enforced” (949).

During the reign of Constantine I, the Roman Empire experienced great strides in religious tolerance. While meeting together in Milan during February 313 AD, Constantine I and Licinius, Roman emperors, came up with the religious policy for the future of the empire. This policy became known as the Edict of Milan and forever changed the future of religion, especially Christianity. Over 1600 years later, in January 1925, a historian named John R. Knipfing wrote an essay analyzing the religious tolerance during Constantine’s reign. This essay focused not only on the Edict of Milan, but also on the outlook on Christianity and religion that led up to it. It is evident through the comparison of these two documents how important primary sources such

Law and order are something that has been around for a considerable length of time, one of our oldest established arrangements of law are Hammurabi's code it consists of 282 writing laws. Hammurabi’s Code was a set of laws that dictated the people of the ancient Babylonian society in 1750 B.C. In spite of the fact that these laws are from a long time ago, the code remains prominent and often applicable even today. The Code’s fundamental concept was “an eye for an eye” and this term has been utilized various perspectives. This guaranteed equity and it furthermore made a class structure, sex relationship, moral qualities and it incredibly influenced religion. Additionally, while some people may assert that the potency of this method was a despot and that some of the punishments allowed by the Code were exceedingly inequitable, the Babylonian society of that time saw it as the most methodic way to deal with the problem of crime without being excessively barbaric.

After Constantine’s conversion to Christianity and the Edict of Milan that was established by him and his co-emperor Licinius giving religious freedom to all, this religion began slowly drawing more and more converts. Christianity was appealing to many because of its message and declaration of personal salvation, its ability to foster within its followers a sense of community and identity, and the benefits of being a part of the emperor’s new faith. In addition, it was freely opened to all men and women regardless of their class which meant freemen and slaves could join. Yet, this caused resentment among people of polytheistic religions. A main point of contention among polytheists was that in their minds, t was illogical to follow a Savior

The “Code of Hammurabi” is considered to be one of the most valuable finds of human existence. In fact its very existence created the basis for the justice system we have come to rely on today. The creation of “the Code” was a tremendous achievement for not only Babylonian society but for the entire Mesopotamian region as King Hammurabi was ruler over all of that area. Its conception can be considered to be the first culmination of the laws of different regions into a single, logical text. Hammurabi wanted to be an efficient ruler and realized that this could be achieved through the use of a common set of laws which applied to all territories and all citizens who fell under his rule. This paper will discuss the Hammurabi Code and the

The Edict of Milan was written c. 313, in Nicomedia; the terms of this document were and agreed upon by Constantine and Licinius a few months prior in Milan, ergo it’s title. The official declaration contains the legal details pertaining to religious expression in the Roman Empire with a direct emphasise upon Christianity. There is no original copy of this document, there are only “direct copies” most notably within Eusebius of Caesarea's, “Ecclesiastical History”. Eusebius, was a Christian and wrote from a wholly biased perspective many years after the official documents release. The edict is not the main aspect of the document, instead it is integrated to make a religious and ideological point . The Edict is a significant piece of text in the context of the Modern, Western, Christian society. However, was not listed within Law: The Theodosian Code which was issued in c. 438 under Emperor Theodosius II . This text was to serve as an authority on historical legal cases in the Roman Empire. As the Edict of Milan was not listed, there is the possible

It was this refusal that caused its practice to be illegal and those who chose to stick with the faith were prosecuted. Although people were being killed for practicing, Christianity started to become even more popular. After seeing Christian martyrs risk their lives for the sake of Christianity, many Romans were compelled and attracted to the faith. Also, there were Apostles who traveled around the empire spreading the message of Christianity. Then in 312 CE, Emperor Constantine proposed the Edict of Milan that banned all laws against Christianity. That allowed people to freely worship, without the fear of harsh punishment. He eventually converted on his deathbed. Then in 392 CE, Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of Rome. Christianity went from being an illegal religion to the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Emperor Nero had set a great fire in Rome that had burnt down a great part of it. In order to direct all the blame away from himself he blamed the followers of Christianity for the fire. He ordered the brutal killing of Christians and over the next hundred years small persecutions of the followers were made. It was not until the Emperor Diocletian made the Edict of Diocletian. It ordered the destruction of Christian scriptures, destruction of worship places, and the arrest of Christian clergy. Anyone who refused to renounce their faith would be sentenced to torture and death. This continued for 10 years until the death of Diocletian. Subsequently, Emperor Constantine came into power and converted his ideas towards the religion from a military victory. “The conversion was a result of either a vision or dream in which Christ directed him to fight under Christian standards, and his victory assured Constantine in his faith in a new god” (Lunn-Rockliffe). This military victory influenced him to give the legal rights to Christians when he made the Edict of Milan. The Edict of Milan made it possible to worship any deity as any person pleases in the Roman Empire. Constantine was the first emperor to embrace and legalize the religion of

Some may credit Christianity’s domination of the Roman Empire to Constantine’s Edict of Milan. This edict was a continuation of the Edict of Galerius, which essentially stated that despite the disapproval of the Roman government, Christians were allowed to continue worshipping, as long as they prayed for the well being of the state and allowed the government some control of the magistrates (Knipfing 697). The Edict of Milan furthered this by granting “both to Christians and to all men freedom of choice in following such form of worship as they wish” (“The Edict of Milan” 1). However, due to evangelistic practices already in place, the Edict of Galerius and the Edict of Milan was superfluous to the rise and spread of Christianity.

In some ways, this might have strengthened and reinforced Christian faith because in the period between 68 CE and 313 CE (the year in which Emperor Constantine signed toleration of Christianity into law via the Edict of Milan), Christians had to be more careful in their practices; if an individual felt the desire to be a Christian, that individual had to be extremely committed to the faith and fully aware of the risks associated with it. For a number of years, public demonstrations and declarations of Christian faith continued to be an offense punishable by death in Rome. In addition, the reputation of Christians had been badly damaged by Emperor Nero in the aforementioned allegations of arson by Christians as the cause of the devastating

Rarely is there enough information about ancient cultures to satisfy contemporary interest. This is especially true of ancient Egypt and particularly of ancient Egyptian law. The civilization that left so many grand edifices dedicated to its gods and kings left little evidence of the laws those gods and king laid down. This dearth of evidence paired with the absence of a written code of law makes some scholars skeptical of speaking of Egyptian law as law in a proper sense (Théodoridès 291). But if one reviews what we do know about this aspect of ancient Egyptian society, the missing code fades away as a problem even if it does not evaporate completely.

When studying history we must consider the importance of law. Before there was written word, and set guides for what we consider civil behavior, there was no way for a civilization to grow under a centralized government with set laws and order to influence the actions of its population. When a crime was committed there was no set punishment. “Where there is no law there is no transgression” (KJV Bible, Romans 4:15). Historically civil code and laws have set forth social order, encouraged education of the population and provided for identity of class and gender.